Serene turns eight

The Story of Serene: Chapter 8! I can’t believe our first baby is 8 years old. Just in awe of God’s grace to us through her. She is an enthusiastic learner of all things, especially history. God is molding her heart to grow in the Word and prayer. She rebukes me gently and encourages us to pray for one another. She is relishing the historical context of the Old Testament as we study ancient empires this school year. She strives to be helpful and thankful, which is a great blessing to us. She is an unabashed bibliophile who requested historical fiction and nonfiction books and cinnamon rolls for her birthday. She was also surprised with gently loved AG dolls from dear friends, which made her the happiest girl. We love her so!!!

Serene turns seven

Serene turns seven! We praise God for the gift she is. We love her so!!! This past year, we’ve seen much grace in her sensitivity to the things of the Lord. Additionally, she is sweet, helpful, thoughtful, a lover of learning (particularly history), reading, piano-playing, crafting, and imaginary play. She requested an American Girl birthday, so we celebrated her historical character Samantha style, featuring petit fours, pink lemonade, and turn-of-the-century linens. We also had a little birthday celebration at American Girl cafe with her siblings and best friends, dolls included. Serene had the best weekend with the ones she loves. God is kind to bless us with family and friends who love the kids so well, and to allow American Girl Place to reopen by Serene’s birthday. She was the happiest girl!

Serene turns six

Our big girl is six! Praising God for the precious gift she is to us. Her joyful, sweet, and loving heart is a blessing and example to us. She is a voracious reader and awe-filled learner. She enjoys silly jokes and using her imagination. She is eager to please and tries her best in all that is asked of her. She adores her siblings and is a great example to them as their "jie jie" ("big sister" in Chinese). She loves reading (her current favorites are the Fancy Nancy series, Magic School Bus series, Magic Tree House series, nonfiction science, and nonfiction history), dressing up, pretend playing, drawing, socializing, homeschooling, making real-life connections with all she's learning, the colors pink and purple, jazz and ballet lessons, mermaids, Ariel, read-alouds (her current favorites are Mr. Popper's Penguins and My Father's Dragon), pasta, collecting poems and bits of nature, field trips, and family time.

We celebrated her birthday early on Monday at Disneyland, thanks to a sweet friend who blessed us with entrance. We had a blast and surprisingly lasted all day by grace, largely because of church family who joined us for the adventure. It was so special to see the big kids enjoy Disneyland more now that they're a bit older since the last time we visited two years ago. On the day of Serene's birthday, we had a morning cake smash per tradition. Serene requested a butterfly fairy theme, which I attempted to execute. She was the happiest with new fairy wings, wand, and flower crown from my brother, and Valor made her a slew of birthday cards. We continued celebrating at dinner with extended family and her best friend tonight.

So thankful for Serene's life. She is a constant reminder of God's grace to me. She exhibits contagious joy towards life, which she finds wondrous and exciting. She is patient with me when I am impatient with her. She prays for me, rebukes me when I'm sinning against her and her siblings, and reminds me that Jesus died for our sins on the cross. She has a gentle, teachable sprit. She tries her best to please us and does her best in everything. Praying she'd find her greatest joy in Christ and that she'd continue to have a teachable spirit so that she'd be in awe of the truths in the Lord. We love you so, Sereney!

Serene turns five

Our big girl is five years old! We praise God for her life, her enthusiasm, and her eagerness to learn about God and all that He's made. Thankful for her sweet example to her siblings as she lives out her role as "jie jie" ("big sister" in Chinese). Serene has a soft heart that yearns to obey. She is joyful, easily excited by the wonders of childhood: rocks on the path as we take walks, making connections in different things she's learning, and exclaiming over little details that I easily miss throughout the day. She loves the color pink, My Little Pony & Equestria Girls, Ariel, coloring, drawing, math, reading books on her own, family vacations, ballet, twirly dresses, arts & crafts, read-alouds, puzzles, pasta, wearing her hair down, homeschooling and co-op days, imaginary play, family worship, church family, and being a big girl.

We celebrated early on Monday at Legoland as a family for Serene's birthday, and tonight, we'll have an extended family dinner at a local ice cream parlour restaurant per Serene's request. We do a little cake smash for each of the kids' birthdays. This year, Serene requested a Twilight Sparkle cake smash with a balloon. She received a sparkly pink dress a la Equestria Girl Twilight Sparkle. I made cake toppers imitating Twilight Sparkle's cutie mark, which we stuck on a mini bundt cake. We blew up a giant silver number 5 balloon as the backdrop. It was simple but sweet and helpful because we had our homeschool co-op this morning.

I'm in awe of how God has grown Serene this past year, particularly in her inquisitiveness and desire to explore more of everything God has made. She's thriving and having a blast in her kindergarten studies, but moreover, is learning about God's love for others as she practices compassion and love for our community - our family, extended family, church family, and friends. I'm so grateful God chose Alex and me to be Sereney's parents. We are blessed indeed that God made us parents five years ago. We love you so, Serene Joy Joy!

Serene turns four

Our big girl is four! Serene requested a "kitty dollhouse" birthday, a concept I tried to execute by incorporating her favorites of late: kittens, the color pink, role-playing, flowers, and pancakes. Since having kids, we've managed to surprise them the morning of their birthdays with a special breakfast and gifts. I originally planned on making a hoop wreath to serve as a backdrop for Serene's birthday breakfast. I wrapped strips of white fabric around a dollar store hula hoop and arranged fresh light pink flowers onto its frame. Floral arranging always makes me nervous because I've much to learn about floral design, but Serene loved it, which is what matters. I cut out cat ears and whiskers to attach onto the hoop wreath, transforming it into a kitty silhouette. "It looks like a married kitty, Mommy!" she exclaimed. We also gave Serene cat ears to wear so she could be a kitty herself.

For breakfast, the birthday girl had a tall stack of pancakes, layered and dusted with powdered sugar to resemble a cake. A silver pipe cleaner twisted into the number 4 was the impromptu cake topper. A few chocolate cupcakes purchased from the store became kitty cupcakes after adorned with cat ears cut from black construction paper. She also had strawberry milk, a blended concoction of milk, strawberries, and honey.

Serene had been asking for a dollhouse for a while, for she has a penchant for role-playing with little figurines. In the midst of researching dollhouses during the couple of months leading up to her birthday, a sweet friend graciously gifted us her daughter's hardly used dollhouse and furniture. Such an undeserved blessing! We got a nursery set to complete the collection so that the doll family includes a baby, just like ours. Serene was so excited to furnish and play with her dollhouse, especially because she has a "daddy doll, mommy doll, jie jie doll, boo boo doll, and mei mei doll."

My heart swells with gratitude to behold the gift Serene is to our family. She is observant, inquisitive, enthusiastic, outgoing, and loving. God uses her to teach me much of Himself through her eagerness to learn about Jesus and anything we're trying to teach her, her willingness to be helpful in a sometimes chaotic household, her tender love for her siblings, and her knack for finding joy in the littlest things. We love you so much, Serene Joy Joy! May you continue to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our precious Lord and Savior!

The girls

Many comment on Reverie resembling her big sister. Alex and I definitely observe similarities between the girls at the same age. We love these photos of them; the last one makes me crack up because I got a candid shot of Serene and Reverie doing the same thing.

Final snippets of summer

Summer has treated us quite well. We're all super tanned as a result. Serene officially starts pre-k this fall (next week) as she turns four in less than a month. We've been doing some gentle homeschooling since October 2016, learning a letter every week or two, except for the weeks leading up to and after Reverie's birth. We're finishing up letter Z this week, which is why we're not starting a new school year until next week. Valor has recently taken an interest in our mornings reading and learning. At almost two and a half, his attention span and dexterity are not as developed as his big sister's. However, he has been surprising me by what he's absorbing and by his predilection for all the crafty activities. It's so sweet to watch him and his sister learn together. I've had a desire to teach my own children one day ever since I taught public school as a middle and high school English teacher. I can't believe it's a reality now. Thankful (and nervous!) to be able to disciple our children. Lord, please grant me much grace, wisdom, and patience, all of which I sorely lack.